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Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the National Agency. Neither the European Union nor National Agency can be held responsible for them.

ABOUT

Blockchain is an important technological innovation that is rapidly gaining traction across many industries, including the food supply chain. Its ability to increase transparency, efficiency, and accountability in the food supply chain is truly transformative and has the potential to improve food safety, reduce waste, and increase profits for everyone involved.

- Tom Mastrobuon, CFO of AgroFresh

Agrifood supply chains are complex and involve many actors — from small-scale farmers, primary processors, and traders to product manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and consumers.  Emerging blockchain technologies, which improve transparency, security, and durability of supply chains, show promise for addressing the current limitations of food supply chain management:

  • COVID-19 has heightened the need for food sovereignty and innovation in the agrifood sector. However, today's food system fails to meet the transparency and assurance many consumer’s demand.  Over 71% of consumers worldwide are willing to pay a premium for brands that provide transparent information.
  • Food wastage reduction is another noteworthy benefit of blockchain. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “Roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year - approximately 1.3 billion tonnes - gets lost or wasted”.

Blockchain can assist the agricultural and food sectors deal with and managing predictable dangers and maintaining affordability throughout the ecosystem.  However, our higher educators and those in advisory positions to traditional sectors such as food and beverage production and processing or agriculture are already lagging.  There is a large digital knowledge gap given the fast-paced development and applicability of emerging technologies, our education provision and a consumer-led pressure for change in a post Covid economy.

The Blockchain for Agrifood Educators project aims to tackle societal challenges in the food supply chain and drive the digital transformation of the food sector. The project’s objectives include:

  • empowering academics and lecturers from agribusiness, food science and engineering, and nutrition departments to unlock the power of blockchain for their agrifood student population while providing leadership for industry players in their regions.
  • lead the education of the future workforce in a responsible manner that enables them to meet job market requirements.
  • transform agrifood business models, productivity, competitiveness, and growth for the benefit of a broad range of stakeholders, from small-scale farmers to consumers, product manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.

Why is this project needed?

As we developed this project, we interviewed contributors spanning agribusiness facilities, food science and engineering, and nutrition departments, and included students' views.  Their collective feedback was very clear:

  • Current sources of information on blockchain are either highly generic or highly technical. Training must not be solely technical: it must address the attitudinal, knowledge and skills barriers that the agrifood sector faces.
  • While blockchain has been covered in research, there is very little/if anything, available on the application of blockchain specifically for the agrifood sector.
  • Belief that blockchain usage requires highly technical digital skills
  • Perception that blockchain is still for multinational corporations.
  • Low level of awareness among some members of the target group.
  • High level of interest but low level of preparedness to teach blockchain skills effectively.

We now tackle these challenges in the development of our results.

Project Partners

© 2024 Blockchain for Agri Food Edu. All rights reserved.
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